If you are a fan of a particular country, go with that theme for your menu. For instance, we are obviously fans of US Soccer, so we would do hot dogs, burgers or sliders, pizza, wings, french fries, cupcakes, etc. You could even name each item for your favorite player on the roster like a drink called "Guch's Hooch" or "Ching's Wings." My husband says that when he was a youth player, the parents would always bring them oranges and Capri Suns for after the game snacks--this would be a cute idea too!

Any black and white candy would work great with this theme. Black licorice, oreo cookies or cakesters,

If you are an England fan, you could do fish and chips, bangers and mash, or whatever English delicacy that you would like. Or, if you prefer feting the host country, go for a South African theme!

Decor Ideas:

Use an astroturf tablecloth and mark it with white masking tape to look like the soccer pitch. Add goals at each end. Decorate by hanging soccer balss, soccer boots or socks from the ceiling, even throw in some shin guards! Tie vases or serving pieces with colorful soccer socks. They are super long, so you can do a lot of great stuff with them!
Soccer party supplies are readily available at any party store. Think out of the box by throwing in the flags of different countries and celebrating the global aspect of the theme. International flag bunting is perfect!
Cut inexpensive soccer balls in half and use them as bowls for chips or dips.

Well, I am going to share with you the how-to on this beautiful nested tier server.

Here are the supplies you need:

Two cardboard cake rounds (any size you would like--these are 12" and 16")

Scissors

Double sided tape

Ribbon (not pictured)

Scrapbook paper of your choice

2 cans of vegetables or soup

Wreaths in the matching size of your cake rounds

This is the general idea. Stack the two cans of vegetables on top of each other and the larger cake round, then stack the small round on top of them both.

To start, you need to cover your rounds with your choice of scrapbook paper and use double sided tape to secure. This is tricky because of the size of scrapbook paper, but if you buy a pattern that repeats, or a solid color, you should be good to go.

Next, I covered the outer edges of the cake rounds with a coordinating ribbon, so that the ugly corrugated cardboard did not show.

Then, secure your cans together by stacking them and then taping them longways and also around the rims. Once you have done that, roll the cans in scrapbook paper and secure with double stick tape. Fold the edges down as you would when wrapping a present.

Stack the stand again, as practiced above.
Add wreaths and voila! You have completed your own DIY dessert stand!

I added additional feathers and some little birds for height and for some va-va-voom.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

While in Arkansas this past weekend, one of my close girlfriends, Kari, mentioned to me that she would like to do a Monster Truck birthday for her son Grant in the late summer when he turns 3. She initially wanted to do a Rock Star party, but he is currently obsessed with Monster Trucks. She knew that he would enjoy that theme a lot more than they one she had previously planned on. So, I told her I would look around and see what cute ideas I could send her.

One of my favorite things to do for any kind of outdoor-related theme is Dirt Cake. Kids love it, especially boys. My husband is 31 and requests dirt cake all the time. You could do small individual servings instead of cupcakes. It would look adorable on a tier server.

I also love the idea of making the entrance like a dirt track with flags, etc. Kari could easily do this because she doesn't live in a neighborhood, so she has a lot of room to really use the outdoors to her advantage.

Using tires, like Maddycakes Muse in the inspiration board is a stroke of genius!

Can't wait to see how it turns out Kari!!

If you follow Kristy at The Purple Pug, you know she is doing a Monster Jam party soon. I am thinking there will be A LOT of inspiration there!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I have been reading PopSugar and their related blogs for years, so I was thrilled to hear that they wanted to feature my What's It Gonna Bee? gender reveal party on their blog! I actually knew about it yesterday, when Rebecca, the associate editor e-mailed me. I pretty much almost wet my pants.

LilSugar did an entire post devoted to gender reveal parties, and even mentioned Josh and Anna Duggar, which is hilarious to me because I NEVER miss that show!

The baby boy from this shower, Tommy, is due in just a few weeks (hopefully sooner for mommy Lauren!), so this is super exciting!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Saturday, I spent the day in Little Rock with my best girlfriends, co-hosting a sip-n-see for one of my dearest friends, Meredith. Meredith is known in our circle as being quite the hostess with the mostess herself, so this being her THIRD boy (yes third, bless her heart) we really wanted to blow it out for her!

Sweet little Colin was born April 2nd and we wanted to wait and do a sip-n-see instead of a regular shower, since she pretty much already has every baby boy item that exists! Plus, this way, everyone could see her sweet little man.

Meredith picked her own theme, since she is currently obsessed with birds. It's so funny because we picked this theme months ago and it seems like "nest/feather/tweet/bird" showers are all the rage now! I have seen so many cute variations on this theme lately!

We had 6 hostesses, so we decided to divide and conquer. I was in charge of decor, along with my friend Lindsey, Kari and Jill were in charge of the food, and Whitney and Hannah did the paper products, invitations, and signage.

I think we were a very successful team!

So, let's do it!

The color scheme was robin's egg blue (duh!), white, brown, and a touch of yellow.

I saw these feather wreaths all over Etsy, but I figured that it couldn't be that difficult to make one. So, I took a foam wreath form and wrapped it with three lengths of white feather boa. I added individual guinea feathers with a hot glue gun to make it have a little more depth. Then, I decided to hung Colin's name onto the feather wreath with chipboard letters.

Meredith has a fabulously decorated house, so I capitalized on her gorgeous mantle by putting the table in front of it. Whitney made that banner and I thought it turned out PRECIOUS! My favorite part was the little nest with blue eggs in it that was used as a divider.

My DIY dessert tier nests turned out so precious when it was filled with muffins. I added some maribou feathers to the top for height.

Lindsey found these adorable birdhouses that I thought added the perfect touch to the table!

In a complete stroke of genius, Lindsey, Kari, and Jill decided to dip the peeps in chocolate. That's our variation of chocolate covered marshmallows. They were super cute. They even put chocolate sprinkles at the bottom for "nests." I thought that they were so great on the sticks!

Some of the other menu items included chocolate diped pretzel sticks, old fashioned candy sticks, and malted milk eggs.

The girls also made the famous Martha Stewart chow mein bird nests. These were so tasty and looked absolutely perfect with the decor.

I got that adorable fabric on the table from Hobby Lobby and I just love it.

In the breakfast room, we did the beverages and a wishing tree for baby Colin.

Lindsey brought some Martha Stewart poms and I bought those giant eggs on Easter clearance at Hobby Lobby. They were blue, but they had sparkles on them, which made them photograph white.

That is Meredith's own beverage dispenser, isn't it gorgeous?

The signature drink was a "Colin-politan!"

We also did personalized bottled waters and the "nest" had three blue eggs, for mommy's three sweet boys. It's hard to see in this pciture, but the nest had blue and brown feathers in it.

Lindsey did an awesome job on the wishing tree! I don't know how, but we somehow managed to match the wishing tree base and the container for the cards from 200 miles away! Great minds think alike!

Kari brought along two pictures of baby Colin to frame, since she is a professional photographer! Visit her site here.

Look at the beautiful mommy of three! Looking stunning in her perfectly coordinated dress!

Here we are after the party--so glad you loved it Mere! I would only do a bird theme for you, since birds give me the heeby-jeebies! LOL.